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Track the tall ships approaching Port of Duluth, MN
U.S. Brig Niagara arrives in 2010 – Dennis O’Hara, via Visit Duluth Like many in northern Minnesota, my family awaits the arrival of the “tall ships” later this month in the Port of Duluth on Lake Superior. These masted wooden ships were a huge hit in 2010 and hundreds of thousands of people are expected…
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Know what the mining debate needs? Mercenaries
If you’ve ever been around a debate between people who want to dig up city-sized portions of earth to extract minerals and people who are against that, you see some common themes. Jobs vs. the Environment. Need for minerals in everyday goods vs. the need to preserve natural places. Growth and progress vs. air and…
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Hibbing Jubilee marks summer’s halftime on the Range
This weekend brings the Hibbing Jubilee, this central Mesabi Iron Range city’s summer celebration of mines and pines (but don’t call it Mines and Pines because that was the old name and there are proprietary concerns). Hibbing is “the town that moved” for the iron mines, five miles south where they got arguably the most…
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Iron Range board names ‘NextGen’ task force members
The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (previously Iron Range Resources, Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Agency and Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, known locally, always and forever, as the IRRRB) is trying to plan for the future of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. That’s why Commissioner Tony Sertich and agency officials have crafted the…
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Dylan lets music do the talking in his native Duluth, MN
Bob Dylan performs July 9, 2013 at Bayfront in Duluth. Iris Kolodji Last night Bob Dylan played his birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota, with Wilco, My Morning Jacket and the Richard Thompson Trio. More than 7,000 people attended the show at Bayfront Festival Park, though there was capacity for up to 12,000. Despite my longtime Dylan…
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Reinert decides not to run for MN Sec. of State
UPDATE: This post has been corrected and updated since its release Tuesday morning. Today, State Sen. Roger Reinert (DFL-Duluth) told me he would not run for Minnesota Secretary of State. After giving it some thought, he decided he didn’t want to go after a job that took him out of Duluth. Last month quite a…
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Dylan brings it back home in tonight’s Duluth show
A collection of Dylan books. We get a half dozen authors of Dylan books or documentaries visiting Hibbing every year. Martin Pulaski, Creative Commons license Tonight Bob Dylan and his band, along with Wilco, My Morning Jacket and the Richard Thompson Trio, will perform at the Bayfront Festival Park on the waterfront of Dylan’s birthplace,…
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Iron ore price dip a cause for (measured) concern
BusinessNorth‘s Ron Brochu has a fascinating story on the recent downturn in iron ore prices. Though no major production slowdowns are currently slated for the iron mines here in northern Minnesota, several future projects are facing some serious headwind, according to this story. I wrote about the slow progress at Essar Steel in Nashwauk earlier…
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Northern MN artists drop politically-charged mining album
An impressive group of northern Minnesota musicians, including the dean of the Duluth music scene Charlie Parr, have lent songs to a compilation album called “The Arrowhead Story.” This album is due for a Sept. 7 release, but has a digital page up now. It’d be an interesting collection on its own and it listens…
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B’nai Abraham welcomes classical & down-home musicians
The B’nai Abraham Cultural Center in Virginia announces another event this Saturday, July 13 at 7 p.m. It would not be summer without a much anticipated appearance by the Northern Lights Music Festival players, under the direction of their remarkable Festival founder, Veda Zuponcic. Her musicians come from all over the world, and study for…
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Construction continues at Essar Steel
A source with knowledge of the proceedings of the Itasca County Railroad Authority told me about an update on the construction of Essar Steel near Nashwauk, which was shared at a recent meeting of the authority. Essar has increased their staff to about 100 people, on its way to about 325 permanent personnel to run…
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Fly, bird, fly
This is my Sunday column for the July 7, 2013 Hibbing Daily Tribune. Fly, bird, flyBy Aaron J. Brown No one who lives in the woods lives alone. Sometimes amid the din of family life we forgot that we share our address with thousands of creatures who regard us with the same indifference we usually…
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‘The Bird’ is back in business
An image of the Whistling Bird’s redesigned interior from the restaurant’s Facebook page. Amid the excitement of an Iron Range Fourth of July: the long-awaited re-opening of the Whistling Bird Caribbean restaurant in Gilbert, Minnesota. I spoke of the phoenix-like resurrection of “The Bird” a while back. We look forward to returning to the restaurant…
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The colors of the Iron Range in summer
I took the above photo taking a walk on the Mesabi Trail between Grand Rapids and Coleraine. The reds, greens and blues of this kind of scene are my favorite colors, and you only see them on the Iron Range in summer. Someone sent me this lovely time lapse video of the Hull Rust Mine…
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Northern Lights Music Festival starts today
A scene from ‘Gianni Schicchi,’ the Northern Lights Opera Production in July 2011 Tonight you can catch a gala opening night concert for the Northern Lights Music Festival, a midsummer celebration of opera and classical music in the heart of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Tonight’s concert is at 7 p.m. in the Mesabi East auditorium…